Australian weekly consumer sentiment index falls after gaining for nine straight weeks

Australian weekly consumer confidence dropped after gaining for nine consecutive weeks. The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index dropped 1.3 percent. The softness was mainly because of ‘Time to but a major household item’ component, which fell 5.7 percent. Financial conditions came in mixed. ‘Current finances’ rose 1.1 percent, while ‘future finances’ dropped 0.7 percent.

Economic conditions also came in mixed with ‘current economic conditions’ rising 1.6 percent, while ‘future economic conditions’ softened 1.6 percent. The four-week moving average for ‘inflation expectations’ dropped 0.1 percentage point to 3.2 percent, a historic low.

“Last week’s fall in confidence can be seen as more of a consolidating move than weakness, as it has come after the most extended stretch of gains in the history of the weekly survey. Economic conditions and financial conditions were essentially flat in aggregate; a pleasing result given the news (with the publication of the Q1 GDP data) that Australia is almost certainly in a technical recession. The overall weakness in confidence was due to the fall in ‘Time to buy a household item’. This sub-index has gained nearly 50 percent since the low achieved during the height of the pandemic. Weekly ‘inflation expectations’ remained at the low of 3.1 percent, taking the four-week average down to a historic low of 3.2 percent”, commented ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank.